New MacBooks could finally get the RAM they deserve

Power users had a long list of complaints about the new MacBook Pro. Somewhere, buried right underneath the four USB-C ports, was the RAM that maxes out at 16GB.

That is a lot of gigabytes of RAM, and should be enough for the vast majority of people and all of their Chrome-using needs. But there does exist a small subset of people — professionals, you might say — whose video and photo editing pushes right up against the 16GB of RAM, and are rightly irritated that a $3,000 laptop can’t find space for another $200 stick of RAM.

In a research note obtained by AppleInsider, KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo lays out his expectations for Apple’s laptop line in 2017. Like most other analysts, Kuo’s predictions are educated guesses at best, but he has a habit of being right more often than not.

According to the note, Apple will focus on spec upgrades for its MacBooks in 2017. In particular, it’s rumored that the 15-inch MacBook Pro may get an option with 32GB of RAM, and likely some kind of processor upgrade as well.

Of more use to the bulk of Apple’s users would be a new Retina MacBook with 16GB of RAM. The current Retina MacBook maxes out at 8GB, which is a serious constraint even for heavy web browsing.